well, i read the first 3 of the dark tower series in the long long ago, and now that there is 4 more in the series i decided to take a break from my zombie fascination and return to the world of the gunslinger. bout halfway through book 1 now...

Evil Red wrote:Yesterday I FINALLY, after meaning to pick up a copy for most of my life, went and bought a copy of Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel; Rebecca. Has anyone else read this?

I've seen Alfred Hitchcock's 1940 film of the same title with Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine (one of my favorite old-school actresses) about 90 bazillion times and it includes one of my all time favorite villainess's; Mrs. Danvers played by Judith Anderson.

I thought for being a 72 year old story it might be sort of a hard read with the time period's use of language, but for being a good 25% into the story already, oddly enough I'm fairly amazed that with the exception of a reference to a gramophone and a lorgnette (which I recognized in the context of the story, but didn't know it's name or correct pronunciation without looking it up) amazingly, this story could have been written present day. So far, the movie has followed the book perfectly!

Infact, as I read the first page, I could hear Joan Fontaine's opening movie lines as she narrates the first few pages. Fucking awesome.

As an interesting cross-over for Stephen King fans that arn't as familiar with the book or movie, his book Bag of Bones constantly refers to the opening line and often quoted "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again" as well as Mrs. Danvers, the sinister housekeeper. I about shit my pants when I found out he is afraid of her too. She's been one of my favorite spookey & icy, yet subtle, bitches all my life.

Mrs. Danvers on right

I always wanted to see Mrs. Danvers and Nurse Ratched teamed up in a catfight. At the least, it'd be the world's most iciest and longest staring contest ever.

-vs-

Hot damn, I'm so excited to have finally picked this up and to have it be such an awesome read! YEAY!

I just watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and I am seriously not sure what I would have done if the actress who played Nurse Ratched showed up at my door right then. I might have actually killed her myself for what she did to Billy and McMurphy...

mickey brown-eye wrote:I just watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and I am seriously not sure what I would have done if the actress who played Nurse Ratched showed up at my door right then. I might have actually killed her myself for what she did to Billy and McMurphy...

Yep. And this is why she won the Oscar for Best Actress. You should watch Rebecca now and tell me what you think of my assesement. Judith Anderson (Mrs. Danvers) was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

Evil Red wrote:Yep. And this is why she won the Oscar for Best Actress. You should watch Rebecca now and tell me what you think of my assesement. Judith Anderson (Mrs. Danvers) was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

I'll check it out! I am surprised I haven't seen it yet. Robyn and I went on a Hitchcock spree a few years ago

I had never cared about Bill Maher until I watched him give the only really-truly fitting comments about George Carlin during his (George's) posthumous award show and just like that *snaps* Bill had my attention. (And sudden respect.)

After that, I watched Religulous and not only was I sold, I was amazed he escaped me for so long. So... I'm finally about to bust into his books. I'm cracking this one tonight. Or today. What ever the fuck time it is. I just worked 12 hours of overtime.
Anyhow...

did you start with the prequel, the new spring? it's not really necessary, but it delves into some background on a couple characters theat is kinda cool. i've been through the entire series twice so far. now i'm just waiting for the new ones in paperback to come out so i can finish it out.

mickey brown-eye wrote:Just finished Insomnia (Awesome story!) and now back to the main event: The final Dark Tower book

That reminds me Mickey, did you ever read The Little Sisters of Eluria? It's another one chapter size story that (if I remember correctly for just getting up and not having any coffee yet) takes place between Susan Delgado's death and Roland starting after Walter.

I read it in an anthology forever ago, but it was later re-printed in Everything's Eventual. There's a new (year or two old) limited edition that's going for around between $75-700. that I want.

Evil Red wrote:That reminds me Mickey, did you ever read The Little Sisters of Eluria? It's another one chapter size story that (if I remember correctly for just getting up and not having any coffee yet) takes place between Susan Delgado's death and Roland starting after Walter.

I read it in an anthology forever ago, but it was later re-printed in Everything's Eventual. There's a new (year or two old) limited edition that's going for around between $75-700. that I want.

You probally know most of this though.

I actually did not know any of that! But, the wife has Everything's Eventual so I read the story the other night. It was pretty cool, and correct me if I'm wrong but I think the sisters showed up in either Talisman or Blackhouse too.

mickey brown-eye wrote:I actually did not know any of that! But, the wife has Everything's Eventual so I read the story the other night. It was pretty cool, and correct me if I'm wrong but I think the sisters showed up in either Talisman or Blackhouse too.

Cool, glad you got a chance to read it! I don't remember if they're mentioned in those, but they are in either 5, 6 and/or 7 a few times. It's one of those things that if you don't already know who they are, you don't quite notice you just missed a bunch of history. (You may have lumped them in with old woman that gave Roland the cross to wear?)